Concord May 19th 1859


Miss Mary H. Brown,


        Excuse me
for not acknowledging
before the receipt of your
beautiful gift of May-flowers.
The delay may prove that
I did not fear I should
forget it, though very
busily engaged in surveying.
The flowers were somewhat de-
tained  on the road, but
they were not the less fragrant,
and were very superior to any
that we can show.
        It chanced that on the
very day they arrived, while
surveying in the next town,
I found more of these
flowers than I had ever


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seen hereabouts, and I
have accordingly named
a certain path “May-flower
Path” on my plan. But
a botanists’ experience is
full of coincidences. If you
think much about some
flower which you never saw,
you will be pretty sure to
find it some day actually
growing near by you. In the
long run, we find what
we expect. We shall
be fortunate then if we 
expect great things.


Please remember me
to your Father & Mother
        Yrs truly
        Henry D. Thoreau


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[envelope addressed]


Miss Mary H. Brown
        _Brattleboro_
                Vt